Capture One Pro v7 Review

Phase One of Denmark makes arguably some of the most lust-worthy medium format digital camera equipment known to man. Rampaging mob of perfectionists that they are, they couldn’t settle for letting someone else handle processing their RAW image files (which currently go all the way up to 80 megapixels in size), so they created their own RAW file conversion tool – Capture One.

Capture One currently comes in two flavors: Express ($99) and Pro ($299). What does the extra $200 buy you? Here’s a table summarizing the features of the two versions:

Feature

Description

Capture One Pro 7

Capture One Express 7

Extended Camera Support

Support for leading high-end digital backs, DSLR and mirrorless cameras

X

X

Importer

Import your image or video files and apply multiple styles to the images

Capture One Pro 7 supports the high resolution retina displays found on new MacBooks

X

[Table provided by Phase One]

So what does that all mean? Buy the Pro version. The Skin Tone Enhancer and tethered shooting are worth the price of admission alone.

New features in V 7

A couple of years ago, Phase One bought Expression Media from Microsoft. This move was viewed as strategic because Phase One’s lineup of software lacked any sort of digital asset management (DAM). Rebranded as Phase One Media Pro, the gang from Denmark embarked on ambitious plan. From v5 upwards, Capture One was given more and more integrated access to Media Pro’s capabilities. With v7, Capture One now creates and uses catalogs natively, a vast improvement over the file-based system of the previous versions.

Bits that I like

Catalogs – As previously mentioned, the new catalog structure makes storing and organizing your images much more robust.

Camera Support – Another feature I like is Capture One’s support of over 250 cameras (via files). Phase One not only provides world-class professional software for their own customers, but for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Samsung, Olympus, Leica, Panasonic, Mamiya-Leaf, Fujifilm, Ricoh, Konica-Minolta and Epson.

Local Adjustment Layers – Capture One can save you some trips to Adobe Photoshop with its built-in Local Adjustment Layers. Comprehensive masking tools allow you to selectively apply adjustments to all or portions of an image. Local adjustments are currently limited to 10 layers (up from 5) and works with the following tools: Exposure, Sharpening, Clarity, Moire, Color Editor

OpenCL Support – OpenCL is a framework that allows software developers to tap into the amazing compute power of today’s modern GPU architecture. This means that Capture One can use the power of your GPU to accelerate functions of the application that would otherwise hog a lot of CPU cycles.

Extensive Skintone Controls – Most Phase One owners shoot portraits, and this control is for them. Skintones are quite possibly the trickiest thing to get right, especially in a studio setting. Believe me, I know from first hand experience.

Designed to handle large images – Phase One thinks big. Their current camera line up starts at 40 megapixels and tops out at 80 megapixels (for now). Capture One handles files this large with ease (assuming your computer has enough chutzpah to power it). I have seen other apps designed for DSLR files choke with these big images and as DSLR image sizes are approaching the lower end of the medium format space, RAW editing software has to be able to deal with that. Capture One: been there, done that.

Ekes out the most details from your RAW files – this is for all you landscape photogs out there. Capture One’s sharpening algorithms are some of the best in the industry. Plus, it does a bang-up job recovering details from shadows.

Multiple outputs – Capture One Pro can apply multiple process recipes to your files at the finish. This means that you can punt out JPEGs, TIFFs, proofs and a host of other possible choices all in one go.

Bits that I think should be in there

Export Plugins – We live in a connected world and Phase One needs to get up to speed with that. For all the amazing things that Capture One can do to your images, uploading them to your online gallery of choice has been covered in an S.E.P field (Somebody Else’s Problem).

Better watermarking – Capture One includes rudimentary watermarking. The system is a little bit cumbersome in my opinion. As part of being able to upload, you should be able to watermark your images with flexibility. Or, if you allow Export Plugins (see above), make one like (or port over) LR2/Mogrify. That one Lightroom plugin has a mind-boggling array of capabilities for watermarking and framing images.

Local Adjustments: White Balance – I have run into situations where varying lighting conditions force me to choose between white balancing for the subjects or the background and either choice looks weird. If I could apply white balance on a local level, then I could have the best of both worlds.

Conclusion

Phase One is the only camera maker whose RAW editing/conversion software can compete with all of the big boys out there. Other camera makers offer their own software that is heavily skewed towards their own products (Canon, Nikon & Hasselblad) or bundle a lesser known third-party RAW converter that happens to support their camera (Silkypix, for example). Leica, being Leica, bundles Adobe Lightroom with their cameras. If you want to shoot portraits or landscapes or anything in-between, you can’t go wrong choosing Phase One’s Capture One Pro v7.